Who is Tony Sampson? The diver exploring Oak Island’s watery depths
Tony Sampson is famous as the diving expert on Sky HISTORY’s The Curse of Oak Island. How have his skills become essential to the treasure hunt?
Image: The Curse of Oak Island
There are many lost treasures waiting to be found, but some hunts can prove much more challenging than others. One good case in point is the centuries-long search for the treasure purportedly hidden on Oak Island.
For more than a decade, Marty and Rick Lagina have led their own mission to uncover the coveted hoard at long last. Sky HISTORY viewers have been able to enjoy following their exploits on hit reality series The Curse of Oak Island.
Though the ‘Fellowship of the Dig’ has grown over time, scuba diver Tony Sampson has been present from the very first season. Below, we at Sky HISTORY take a deep dive (pun very much intended) into what makes Tony a valued member of the team.
Tony Sampson’s early life
Tony Sampson was actually born here in the United Kingdom, where he got into treasure hunting. On the Could It Be Oak Island Podcast in May 2020, Tony recalled his five-year-old self joining his grandfather on walks along canal banks.
Tony’s grandfather ‘used to probe in the mud in the canals for stuff that was discarded over the old canal barges.’ Tony later moved with his family to New Zealand, where he stayed for nearly two decades, including stints in the military and law enforcement. He eventually moved to the Canadian province of Nova Scotia in 2006.
How did Tony Sampson join The Curse of Oak Island?
As Tony has revealed in interviews, his involvement with The Curse of Oak Island started rather by accident. When the first season was in the works, a producer friend asked him if he wanted to help the Laginas with a diving expedition.
After orchestrating a test dive for the show, Tony found himself being regularly called upon to assist with other diving missions for the crew. This time, though, he was in front of the camera, not behind it - as he had often been as a safety diver for feature films.
Tony’s high profile on the show has also fuelled the success of his business Salty Dog Sea Tours. Customers are taken on tours around Oak Island led by Tony himself. Along the way, he points out famous locations from the show and shares enlightening tidbits about the island’s history and lore.
Highlights of Tony Sampson’s Oak Island adventure
According to legend, the treasure is buried in what has been dubbed the ‘Money Pit’ area. Unfortunately, though, with previous generations of explorers having already dug here extensively, the terrain is now much more fragile than it once was.
The Money Pit is also prone to flooding. However, underwater work around this area would risk weakening even more of its structural integrity.
Tony Sampson restricts much of his own diving to nearby waters also thought to hold clues to the Oak Island mystery. Here are just some of the most startling revelations he has made while submerged in the wet stuff both on the island and just outside it.
Tony finds a suspicious tree stump in the swamp
As longtime viewers of the show will know, the triangular-shaped swamp on Oak Island has long been rumoured to be man-made. This is largely on account of unnatural-looking formations found in the water, including stone paving.
One of the first clues on The Curse of Oak Island was unearthed in the second season’s first episode, ‘Once In, Forever In’. That’s when Tony Sampson found a huge oak tree stump at the bottom of what the team had assumed to be a natural swamp.
As oak trees cannot grow underwater, the stump could have been material left over from a building project. One theory presented in the episode itself is that the swamp was purposefully created to conceal an underwater treasure vault.
Tony Sampson ‘seas’ potential signs of previous Oak Island visitors
If anyone indeed turned up at Oak Island to bury treasure here centuries ago, they may have left evidence that remains lingering in nearby waters. In the 11th season’s first episode ‘On The Money’, Tony explores the waters just north of the island in search of these traces.
In the event, he comes across shards of decorative pottery and, especially tantalisingly, what looks like a Chinese-style ancient coin. As these artefacts are similar to others found on land at Oak Island, they feasibly could have been deposited by the same people.
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